Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with the curse; for you rob me, even this whole nation. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this,” says Yahweh of Armies, “if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there will not be room enough for.
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“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes!” says Yahweh of Armies. “But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like launderers’ soap; and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer to Yahweh offerings in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to Yahweh, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years. I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don’t fear me,” says Yahweh of Armies. “For I, Yahweh, don’t change; therefore you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers you have turned away from my ordinances, and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says Yahweh of Armies. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with the curse; for you rob me, even this whole nation. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this,” says Yahweh of Armies, “if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there will not be room enough for. I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast its fruit before its time in the field,” says Yahweh of Armies. “All nations shall call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land,” says Yahweh of Armies.
Parallel Translations
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Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In tithes and offerings.
You are cursed with the curse; for you rob me, even this whole nation.
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this,” says Yahweh of Armies, “if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there will not be room enough for.
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Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
Show all 3 translations
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Will a man rob God? Yet ye rob Me. But ye say: 'Wherein have we robbed Thee?' In tithes and heave-offerings.
Ye are cursed with the curse, yet ye rob Me, even this whole nation.
Bring ye the whole tithe into the store-house, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall be more than sufficiency.
Cross-references (45)
- 2 Corinthians 9:6-8 (v10) Remember this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Let each man give…
- Matthew 6:33 (v10) But seek first God’s Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well.
- Proverbs 3:9-10 (vv8, 10) Honor Yahweh with your substance, with the first fruits of all your increase: so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will…
- Psalms 37:3 (v10) Trust in Yahweh, and do good. Dwell in the land, and enjoy safe pasture.
- Deuteronomy 28:12 (v10) Yahweh will open to you his good treasure in the sky, to give the rain of your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand.…
Show all 44 cross-references
- Leviticus 27:30 (v10) “ ‘All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is Yahweh’s. It is holy to Yahweh.
- Nehemiah 13:10-13 (v10) I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given them; so that the Levites and the singers, who did the work, had each fled…
- Nehemiah 12:44 (v10) On that day, men were appointed over the rooms for the treasures, for the wave offerings, for the first fruits, and for the tithes, to…
- 2 Chronicles 31:4-19 (v10) Moreover he commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites, that they might give themselves…
- Numbers 18:21 (v10) “To the children of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they serve,…
- Leviticus 26:10 (v10) You shall eat old supplies long kept, and you shall move out the old because of the new.
- Luke 12:16-17 (v10) He spoke a parable to them, saying, “The ground of a certain rich man produced abundantly. He reasoned within himself, saying, ‘What will I…
- 2 Kings 7:2 (v10) Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, “Behold, if Yahweh made windows in heaven, could this…
- Haggai 2:19 (v10) Is the seed yet in the barn? Yes, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree haven’t produced. From today I will bless…
- Genesis 7:11 (v10) In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the…
- 1 Kings 17:13-16 (v10) Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go and do as you have said; but make me a little cake from it first, and bring it out to me, and…
- 2 Kings 7:19 (v10) and that captain answered the man of God, and said, “Now, behold, if Yahweh made windows in heaven, might such a thing be?” and he said,…
- Nehemiah 10:33-39 (v10) for the show bread, for the continual meal offering, for the continual burnt offering, for the Sabbaths, for the new moons, for the set…
- Nehemiah 13:5 (v10) had prepared for him a great room, where before they laid the meal offerings, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of the grain,…
- Ecclesiastes 11:3 (v10) If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth; and if a tree falls toward the south, or toward the north, in the place…
- Nehemiah 12:47 (v10) All Israel in the days of Zerubbabel, and in the days of Nehemiah, gave the portions of the singers and the gatekeepers, as every day…
- John 21:6-11 (v10) He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” They cast it therefore, and now they weren’t able to…
- Matthew 22:21 (v8) They said to him, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are…
- Luke 5:6-7 (v10) When they had done this, they caught a great multitude of fish, and their net was breaking. They beckoned to their partners in the other…
- 1 Chronicles 26:20 (v10) Of the Levites, Ahijah was over the treasures of God’s house and over the treasures of the dedicated things.
- Deuteronomy 28:15-19 (v9) But it shall come to pass, if you will not listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which…
- Mark 12:17 (v8) Jesus answered them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” They marveled greatly at him.
- Psalms 29:2 (v8) Ascribe to Yahweh the glory due to his name. Worship Yahweh in holy array.
- Haggai 1:6-11 (v9) You have sown much, and bring in little. You eat, but you don’t have enough. You drink, but you aren’t filled with drink. You clothe…
- Haggai 2:14-17 (v9) Then Haggai answered, “ ‘So is this people, and so is this nation before me,’ says Yahweh; ‘and so is every work of their hands. That which…
- Malachi 2:2 (v9) If you will not listen, and if you will not take it to heart, to give glory to my name,” says Yahweh of Armies, “then I will send the curse…
- Numbers 18:21-32 (v8) “To the children of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they serve,…
- Malachi 1:13 (v8) You say also, ‘Behold, what a weariness it is!’ and you have sniffed at it”, says Yahweh of Armies; “and you have brought that which was…
- Luke 20:25 (v8) He said to them, “Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
- Leviticus 27:2-34 (v8) “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘When a man consecrates a person to Yahweh in a vow, according to your valuation, your…
- Joshua 7:11 (v8) Israel has sinned. Yes, they have even transgressed my covenant which I commanded them. Yes, they have even taken some of the devoted…
- Joshua 22:20 (v9) Didn’t Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the devoted thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? That man didn’t…
- Romans 2:22 (v8) You who say a man shouldn’t commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?
- Romans 13:7 (v8) Therefore give everyone what you owe: if you owe taxes, pay taxes; if customs, then customs; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.
- Nehemiah 13:4-14 (v8) Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the rooms of the house of our God, being allied to Tobiah, had prepared for…
- Isaiah 43:28 (v9) Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary; and I will make Jacob a curse, and Israel an insult.”
- Malachi 1:8 (v8) When you offer the blind for sacrifice, isn’t that evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, isn’t that evil? Present it now to your…
- Leviticus 5:15-16 (v8) “If anyone commits a trespass, and sins unwittingly regarding Yahweh’s holy things, then he shall bring his trespass offering to Yahweh: a…
- Joshua 7:12-13 (v9) Therefore the children of Israel can’t stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become…
44 distinct cross-references across this passage (45 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (19 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv8–10 Will a man defraud the gods? Some give this…
Will a man defraud the gods? Some give this version, “Will a man defraud God?” But it is strained and remote from the Prophet’s design; and they pervert the meaning. For I do not see what can be elicited from this rendering, “Will a man defraud God?” But there are other two meanings which may be taken. The first is, “Will a man defraud his gods?” The word אלהים, Aleim, though it be in the plural number, is applied, as it is well known, to the true God; but it is applied also to idols; and in this place the Prophet seems to me to compare the Jews to the Gentiles, that their impiety might be made more evident. The same is the object of Jeremiah, when he says,
“Go, and survey the islands, is there a nation which has changed its gods, while yet they are no gods.” (Jeremiah 2:10.)
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Since their blindness and obstinacy held fast the Gentiles in darkness, that they continued to worship the gods to whom they had been accustomed, it was an abominable wickedness in the Jews, that having been taught to worship the true God, they were yet continually influenced by ungodly levity, and sought new modes of worship, as though they wished to devise another god for themselves. So also in this place the Prophet seems to bring forward the Gentiles as an example to the Jews; for they discharged their duty towards their gods; but the Jews despised the supreme and the only true God: “Behold,” he says, “go round the world, and ye shall not find among the nations so unbridled a liberty as prevails among you; for they render obedience to their gods, and sacrilege is abominable to them; but ye defraud me. Am I inferior to idols? or is my state worse than theirs?”
Some take the word אלהים, Aleim, for judges, as judges are sometimes so named; but this meaning seems not suitable on account of the word, Adam. As then this word generally means man, the Prophet, I have no doubt, intimates what I have stated, — that unbelievers, though sunk in darkness, are yet restrained by reverence and fear from changing their deity, and that they dare not to show levity when the name only of their god is pronounced. Since then such humility prevailed among unbelievers, could the impiety of that people, who had been trained up in the law, be excusable? a people too, upon whom God had ever made the doctrine of the law to shine.
He afterwards adds, Because ye have defrauded me; and ye have said, Thereby have we defrauded thee? In tenths and in oblations Here the Prophet again proves the people guilty of perverseness: it was indeed hypocrisy, and though gross, it was yet surpassed by impudence; for they asked, whereby they had defrauded God? and yet this was evident even to children: for we know, and we have seen elsewhere, that avarice so ruled among them, that every one, bent on their own profit, neglected the temple and the priests. Since then they were openly sacrilegious, how shameless they must have been to ask whereby they had defrauded God! The thing itself was indeed manifest and commonly known, so that children could see it. God however deemed it enough to convict them by one sentence, — that they defrauded him in the tenths and in the first-fruits; not that any advantage accrued to him from oblations, as he had no need of any such things; but he rightly calls and counts that his own which he had appointed for his own service. Since then he had instituted that order among the Jews, that they might by the tenths support the priests, and a part also was required for the poor, since God designed the firstfruits and other things to be offered to him, that men might thereby be continually reminded, that all things were his, and that whatever they received from his hand was sacred to him, he had previously called the bread laid on the table his own, and had called the sacrifices his own food, as though he did eat and drink. But as I have already said, we ought to regard the object in view, because his will was to be thus worshipped, and at the same time to keep as his own whatever belonged to his service. This then is the reason why he now complains of being defrauded of the tenths.
But we know that other sacrifices are now prescribed to us; and after prayer and praises, he bids us to relieve the poor and needy. God then, no doubt, is deprived by us of his right, when we are unkind to the poor, and refuse them aid in their necessity. We indeed thereby wrong men, and are cruel; but our crime is still more heinous, inasmuch as we are unfaithful stewards; for God deals more liberally with us than with others, for this end — that some portion of our abundance may come to the poor; and as he consecrates to their use what we abound in, we become guilty of sacrilege whenever we give not to our brethren what God commands us; for we know that he engages to repay, according to what is said in Proverbs 19:17, “He who gives to the poor lends to God.”
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv8, 10 There are none of the heathen so barbarous, that…
There are none of the heathen so barbarous, that will defraud their gods of their honor, or deal deceitfully with them.
Whereby the service of God should have been maintained, and the Priests and the poor relieved.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv8–10 Mal 3:8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye…
Mal 3:8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
Ver. 8. Will a man rob God?] Adam pillage Elohim? frail weak man seek to supplant (so the Septuagint render it) the great and mighty God? Giant-like boldness! Cacus met with his match when he robbed Hercules. Mercury, say the poets, had a mind to steal Jupiter’s thunderbolts, but dared not meddle, lest he should punish as Prometheus for stealing fire; or lest they should burn his fingers. The eagle in the fable, that stole a piece of flesh from the altar, and carried it together with a live coal, that stuck to it, to his nest, set his young and all on fire. Dionysius, that robbed his god, was cast out of his kingdom, though he was wont to boast, that he had it bound to him with chains of adamant. Belshazzar paid dearly for his bousing in the bowels of the sanctuary. Cardinal Wolsey, and five of his servants, employed by him in embezzling consecrated goods, though perhaps to better purposes, came all to fearful ends, as Scultetus noteth, and thereupon wisheth, Utinam his et similibus exemplis edocti discant homines res semel Deo consecratas timide attrectare. "It is a snare to the man that devoureth that which is holy," Pro 20:25. They may be compared to those who, being of a cold and phlegmatic stomach, eat hard and choleric meats; well they may please their palates, but it cannot be for their health: no more can the murdering morsels of such sacrilegious persons, as, devouring holy things, have their meat sauced and their drink spiced with the bitter wrath of God. See Job 20:23. Polanus reads the text thus, Will a man rob his gods? q.d. Will any heathen do so? did not they that worshipped idols abhor sacrilege? Was it not one of the laws of the twelve tables in Rome, Sacrum sacrove commendatum qui clepserit rapseritque, parricida esto, Let every sacrilegious person pass and be punished for a parricide? And doth not Cicero affirm those laws, that they did exceed all the libraries of the philosophers in weight and worth? Did not those old idolaters freely bestow their most precious things upon their idols, Eze 16:16-19 Exo 32:3, yea, their very children in sacrifice to Moloch, or Saturn? 2Ki 16:3; 2Ki 17:17; being as mad upon their idols as ever was any wicked wanton upon his harlot, lavishing out of the bag? &c. And are not our modern idolaters and Papists as bountiful to their he saints and she saints? so that their churches are not able to hold their vowed presents and memories, but that in many places, as at Loretto, Sichem, &c., they are fain to hang their cloisters and churchyards with them? Shall they in their petitions to our parliaments plead for favour and forbearance upon this ground, because their ancestors, they say, bestowed so great cost upon this land for church maintenance; and shall it be said (now that they are worthily cast out), Possidebunt Papistae, possident Rapistte, Wicked Papists had them, ungodly Rapists have them; Improprietaries, I mean, that hold by an improper title, and all others that appropriate that to them and theirs which the Almighty is invested in. This is here instanced as a capital crime, and called robbing God, as well it may; forasmuch as ministers’ maintenance (being tithes) is called the Lord’s, and holy to the Lord, Lev 27:30, because separated from man and man’s use, and therefore might not be altered, Lev 27:28. Or if any had a mind to redeem them, they were bound to add to the price every fifth penny above the true value, Lev 27:31. Let all those look to this, whether impropriators, false patrons ( latrones robbers rather), or others, that, either by force or fraud, rob God of his right ( Nunquid homo fraudabit Deum? sic vertunt Aquila, Symmachus et Theodotion); detaining part of the due at least, as Ananias and Sapphira did; God hath a Quare Impedit against them, which one day they must make answer to.
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Yet ye have robbed me] Because ye have robbed my ministers, who are in my stead, 2Co 5:20, and in whom he receiveth tithes, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth, like as did Melchisedec, as a priest and tithe taker, and type of Christ Heb 7:7-9. And as God is sensible of the least courtesy done to a prophet to reward it, even to a cup of cold water, Mat 10:42 (so that he is a niggard to himself that scants his beneficence to a minister), so for those that wrong and rob them, that deny them that double honour of countenance and maintenance that he hath appointed them, and hold them to hard allowance; muzzling the ox, or giving him but straw at the best, for treading out the grain; they will dearly answer it before God, who holds all done to them as done to himself. Surely, as David could not but feel his own cheeks shaven and his own coat cut in his ambassadors; they did but carry his person to Hanun; so here. And as there was never any king so poor and weak but thought himself strong enough to revenge any wrong done or abuse offered to his ambassadors ( Legati quod erant appellati superbius, Corinthum Patres vestri totius Graeciae lumen extinctum esse voluerunt. Cic. pro lege Man.); so the king of heaven will not fail to curse with a curse whole nations that forget God and forsake his Levites, Deu 12:19, it being all one to God to deal in this case against a nation or against a man only, Job 34:29.
In tithes and offerings] He had told them before they had robbed him; or, as some read it, stabbed him as with a daggar. And here they should have confessed the action and craved pardon. But because they did nothing less, standing upon their justification (as before often), God descends to the particular wherein they robbed him, "In tithes and offerings." The original hath it, Tithes and offerings, without the particle (in); and it is as if the Lord should say, you may easily know my meaning without so many words, but that you love to contest. You cannot be ignorant that the Levites, for want of maintenance, are fled every man to his field, and so my work and worship is left undone. Good Nehemiah was sensible of it, Neh 13:10, and because he knew that by this means religion itself would be soon undermined and overturned, he contended with the rulers, and made all the people pay their tithes; and this he worthily reckons among his good deeds, praying God to remember him for it, and not wipe it out Neh 13:14. Hezekiah, that great reformer showed the like zeal in commanding the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and Levites, that they might attend upon the law of the Lord (so the Vulgate), that they might be encouraged in the law of the Lord, so we read, 2Ch 31:4; that is, that they might not follow their callings heavily for want of maintenance, but cheerfully bend themselves wholly to the service of the Lord. And here (as Ferus once wished for the Romish synagogue) I would we had some Moses, said he, to take away the evils of the times; non enim unum tantum vitulum sed multos habemus, for we have not one golden calf, but many; so have we of these times cause to wish we had some zealous Nehemiahs and Hezekiahs to stickle and stand for Christ’s ministers, not defrauded of their due maintenance only (a sign of gasping devotion), but trampled upon by the foul feet of the basest of the people, as the filth of the world and the offscouring of all things. Tithes, they say, are Jewish; but if Melchisedec tithed Abraham by the same right whereby he blessed him, Heb 7:6, and if tithes by all laws of God, nature, nations, have been hallowed to God, as Junius and other modern divines allege and argue; and, lastly, if things consecrated to God’s service may not be alienated, out of case of necessity, Pro 20:25 Gal 3:15; it will appear to be otherwise. Or if tithes be Jewish, and yet ministers must have a maintenance (Christ having so ordained, 1Co 9:14), and that both honourable, 1Ti 5:17-18, and liberal, Gal 6:6, how else shall they be given to hospitality? 1Ti 3:2 (if they be not hospitable they will be despicable); how will men satisfy their consciences in the quota pars, the particular quantity they must bestow upon them? The Scripture speaketh only of the tenth part. Sed manum de tabula. Enough of this, if not more than enough.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv8–10 Will a man rob God? among the many deviations…
Will a man rob God? among the many deviations from God’s law (which they do not, because they will not, see) the prophet chargeth them with this kind of sacrilegious theft; they had detained his tithes, shortened him in that portion which he had reserved to himself and for his service, which is, as our version expresseth it, a robbing of God. And as the words lie in the original, they do, by arguing from the less to the greater, aggravate this sin; as they may be read, Will a man rob a great man, or, a judge? for the word used will bear these notions. Or, Will a man rob the gods? i.e. do not heathens abhor the foulness of such a fault, and fear the punishment of sacrilege, and therefore would not rob their idols? as another prophet asked once the question, Have any of
the nations changed their gods, which yet are no gods? Jer 2:11; so now, Have the nations robbed their gods? Yet ye have robbed me; but blush, ye shameless priests and Jews, you have robbed not a great man, but the great God; not judges, but the Judge of judges; not an idol, but the living God! How great is your crime!
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Wherein have we robbed thee? a question just like those Mal 1:7; 2:17; 3:7, which see.
In tithes: the people robbed God not paying the full tenth, which God appointed should be paid to him. The priests robbed God in tithes, while they took too much, or it may be all, for their own particular and family use, and did not distribute them to all that by God’s law had a right to a proportion of them.
And offerings; either first-fruits, or other oblations and gifts, which were appointed to be brought to the temple for the service of God; in all which the people and priests had given him less than his due.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv8–10 Will a man rob God?.... Or "the gods"; the…
Will a man rob God?.... Or "the gods"; the false gods, the idols of the Gentiles; the Heathens will not do that, accounting sacrilege a great sin, and yet this the Jews were guilty of: or "the judges" (c), as the Targum; civil magistrates; will any dare to defraud them of their due? see Mal 1:8.
Yet ye have robbed me; keeping back from the priests and Levites, his ministers, what was due to them; and which, being no other than a spoiling or robbing of them, might be interpreted a robbing of God:
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But ye say, wherein have we robbed thee? as not being conscious of any such evil; or, however, impudently standing in it, that they were not guilty: to which is returned the answer,
In tithes and offerings; that is, they robbed God in not giving the tithes, and not offering sacrifices, according as the law required: but it may be objected, that the Jews in Christ's time did pay tithes, even of all things; yea, of more than the law required, Mat 23:23 to which it may be replied, that though they gave tithes, yet it was , "with an evil eye", as Aben Ezra says; grudgingly, and not cheerfully, and with an evil intention; not to show their gratitude to God, and their acknowledgment of him as their Lord, from whom they had their all, but in order to merit at his hands; besides, our Lord suggests that they did not give to God the things that were God's, Mat 22:21 and the apostle charges them with being guilty of sacrilege, Rom 2:22 and, moreover, the priests might not give it to the Levites, as they ought; and which is what they are charged with in Neh 13:10 and Grotius says that they were guilty of this before the destruction by Vespasian, as appears by Josephus.
(c) "deos, vel judices", Calvin, Drusius, Grotius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv9–10 Cursed with a curse - Are greatly cursed.
Cursed with a curse - Are greatly cursed.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv8–10 Verse 8. Will a man rob God?] Here is…
Verse 8. Will a man rob God?] Here is one point on which ye are guilty; ye withhold the tithes and offerings from the temple of God, so that the Divine worship is neglected.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv8, 10 Mal 3:8-9. Will a man rob God — Grotius…
Mal 3:8-9. Will a man rob God — Grotius reads, “Would any one dare to rob his judges as ye have robbed me?” the word rendered God sometimes meaning judges or magistrates. Some others render the clause, Is it right that God should be robbed (or defrauded) by man? Here God gives them an answer to their question in the foregoing verse, Wherein shall we return; or, repent and amend? But ye have robbed me — Notwithstanding it is so unjust and presumptuous to defraud God, that men in general are afraid to do it, yet ye have done it. Do you ask, wherein you have robbed me? I answer, In tithes and offerings — By this seems to be meant the first-fruits of their ground and cattle, and other offerings which were allotted to the priests, Deu 18:4, out of which revenue they were to provide the daily sacrifices, and also maintain the Levites, who attended upon the service in the temple. Ye are cursed with a curse — Are greatly cursed, or, you lie under a heavy curse, and are likely still to do so, for the curse shall continue upon you while you continue in this your sinful course. For ye have robbed me, even this whole nation — This has not been the crime of a few only, but ye have in general defrauded me, and evil shall come upon you for it. In a note on Rom 2:22, where the apostle ranks sacrilege with idolatry, Grotius observes, “Non multum distat falsos deos colere et verum spoliare.” There is very little difference between adoring false gods and robbing the true God.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv8–10 Shall a man rob or cheat - , defraud…
Shall a man rob or cheat - , defraud God? God answers question by question, but thereby drives it home to the sinner’s soul, and appeals to his conscience. The conscience is steeled, and answers again, “In what?” God specifies two things only, obvious, patent, which, as being material things, they could not deny. “In tithes and offerings.” The offerings included several classes of dues to God:
(a) the first fruits ;
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(b) the annual half-shekel Exo 30:13-15;
(c) the offerings made for the tabernacle Exo 25:2-3; Exo 35:5, Exo 35:21, Exo 35:24; Exo 36:3, Exo 36:6 and the second temple Ezr 8:25 at its first erection; it is used of ordinary offerings;
(d) of the tithes of their own tithes, which the Levites paid to the priests Num 18:26, Num 18:28-29;
(e) of the portions of the sacrifice which accrued to the priests Lev 7:14.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv8–10 Afflict. Literally, "pierce." Septuagint, "supplant," (Haydock) or kick at,…
Afflict. Literally, "pierce." Septuagint, "supplant," (Haydock) or kick at, 1 Kings ii. 29. But the term applied to Heli is different. Here it signifies to nail or irritate. (Calmet) --- Tithes: the payment is most strictly commanded. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv8–10 rob--literally, "cover": hence, defraud. Do ye call defrauding God…
rob--literally, "cover": hence, defraud. Do ye call defrauding God no sin to be "returned" from (Mal 3:7)? Yet ye have done so to Me in respect to the tithes due to Me, namely, the tenth of all the remainder after the first-fruits were paid, which tenth was paid to the Levites for their support (Lev 27:30-33): a tenth paid by the Levites to the priests (Num 18:26-28): a second tenth paid by the people for the entertainment of the Levites, and their own families, at the tabernacle (Deu 12:18): another tithe every third year for the poor, &c. (Deu 14:28-29).
offerings--the first-fruits, not less than one-sixtieth part of the corn, wine, and oil (Deu 18:4; Neh 13:10, Neh 13:12). The priests had this perquisite also, the tenth of the tithes which were the Levites perquisite. But they appropriated all the tithes, robbing the Levites of their due nine-tenths; as they did also, according to JOSEPHUS, before the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. Thus doubly God was defrauded, the priests not discharging aright their sacrificial duties, and robbing God of the services of the Levites, who were driven away by destitution [GROTIUS].
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On v8 8. The reply is in the form of a…
8. The reply is in the form of a question.
Will a man rob God? — A better translation of the first two clauses would be, “Will a man rob God, that you rob me?” (Compare Amo_6:12.) A question of astonishment that anyone should think of such a preposterous thing; and yet they have done it and are still doing it. The verb is unquestionably used in the sense of “defraud” — they do not pay their just dues; but there seems to be insufficient reason for substituting a different verb in Hebrew. Again an attempt is made to combat the prophet, and again he meets the objection.
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In tithes and offerings — These they have withheld, and by doing so they have defrauded Jehovah. The last word means literally peace offering (compare Eze_44:30; Neh_10:39), which belongs to the priests (Eze_44:30); here it includes every offering due to Jehovah. How they are defrauding him is stated in Mal_1:6-14. The regulation of the tithes is found in Deu_14:22 ff.; Lev_27:30 ff.; Num_18:21 ff. (compare Amo_4:4); they also went to those ministering in the sanctuaries. Some portion they may have given, but not the proper percentage (compare Act_5:1 ff.). 9.
You are cursed with a curse — Jehovah has already shown his displeasure, and still they continue in the evil ways. Wherein the curse consisted is not stated, but Mal_3:10-12 imply that it came in the form of drought, poor harvests, and perhaps a plague of locusts. The curse has fallen upon the whole nation, because the whole nation has defrauded him.
In Mal_3:10 the prophet returns to the question asked in Mal_3:7; he informs his hearers wherein they should return.
Bring ye all the tithes — R.V., “the whole tithe.” The emphasis is upon whole; fraud is to cease, and they are to bring to Jehovah his full share.
Storehouse — Connected with the temple and built for the purpose of receiving gifts of this sort (Compare 2Ch_31:11-12; Neh_10:38-39).
Meat — R.V., “food”; both for Jehovah (see on Mal_1:7) and for the ministering priests and Levites.
Prove me — Whether or not he is the God he was in the days when he chose Israel (Mal_3:6), the God of judgment (Mal_2:17), who rewards the good. That he punishes the evil they should have discovered long ago (Mal_3:9; Mal_3:11-12).
Herewith — Giving to Jehovah all his dues.
If I will not — May be translated “surely I will.”
Open… the windows of heaven — A figure denoting abundance of supply; the blessings will come like pouring rain (Gen_7:11; Isa_24:18; compare 2Ki_7:2).
There shall not be room enough — Literally, until there is no need, which means, in superabundance. While the whole of Mal_3:10 may be understood as a promise of blessings of every sort, in view of Mal_3:11-12 it is not improbable that the prophet has in mind a specific blessing, abundant rain, the lack of which has caused the harvests to fail (compare Joe_1:16-20; Joe_2:23; Amo_4:7-8).
Rebuke — The rebuke of Jehovah will cause flight or destruction.
The devourer — The locust, so called because of his destructiveness (see on Joe_1:7; compare Amo_4:9).
For your sakes — Who in those days will deserve the favor of Jehovah.
Your vine cast her fruit before the time — Before it ripens and brings benefit to the owner.
Field — See on Joe_1:11.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv8–10 8. ye have robbed] Rather, rob; lit. are robbing:…
8. ye have robbed] Rather, rob; lit. are robbing: it is still going on.
tithes] By the Law of Moses (1) “the tenth of all produce, as well as of flocks and cattle, belongs to Jehovah and must be offered to Him” (Lev_27:30; Lev_27:32); and (2) this tenth is “assigned to the Levites as the reward of their services” (Num_18:21; Num_18:24). Nehemiah in his day had to deal once and again with the evil here rebuked. Notwithstanding the “sure covenant” into which they had entered (Neh_9:38 with Neh_10:32-39), he had occasion, on his return to Jerusalem after an absence of a few years, to reform them again in this very particular (Neh_13:10-14).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv8–10 (8) Robbed me.—Because the tithes are said to be…
(8) Robbed me.—Because the tithes are said to be offered to Jehovah, and then He gives them to the Levites in place of an inheritance (Num_18:24).
In tithes and offerings.—See Notes on Exo_23:19; Lev_27:30-33; Num_18:12; Num_18:21-24; Deu_18:4; Lev_3:1-17; Lev_7:11-21; Lev_7:28-36.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv8–10 Will a man rob God? The prophet shows the…
Will a man rob God? The prophet shows the people how they have departed from God, in not keeping even the outward observances of religion. The word translated "rob," defraud, found also in Pro_22:23, etc., is rendered in the Septuagint, pterniei , "trip up," "supplant;" Vulgate, si affliget homo Deum, or, as St. Jerome first translated, "si affiget homo Deum," and referred the words to the crucifixion of our Lord. In tithes and offerings. These were due to the Lord, and therefore in withholding them they were defrauding not man but God. (For tithe, see Lev_27:30, etc.; Num_18:21. See the complaint of Nehemiah, Neh_13:10-12) The "offering" meant is the heave offering, the breast and shoulder of the peace offering, which were the priests" portion. (Exo_29:27 Lev_7:14, Lev_7:32-34; comp. Neh_10:37-39)
Defrauding God.
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The people of Malachi"s days met his reproof in a quibbling and self-justifying spirit. Men who are self-satisfied can resist all appeal. Religious formalities have this as their supreme peril they satisfy men, and prevent them from feeling moral and spiritual anxieties, and from responding to moral and spiritual demands. These men could not see that there was any sense in which they were depriving God of his rights. The prophet puts his finger on one thing. That suffices to prove his accusation. They were withholding and limiting the tithes and offerings due to God"s house. How could citizens be loyal who neglected to pay in those taxes of the king which were the very sign of loyalty? "One might reasonably think such a presumption could not enter into any man"s thoughts, as to rob God of those things which are dedicated to his service; when he considers that he hath received all things from him, and therefore ought in gratitude to set apart some share of his substance for the maintaining of his worship and the public exercises of religion" (Louth). Consider
I WHAT GOD"S CLAIMS ON MEN ARE.
1. His natural claims, as the Author, Designer, Creator, practical Arranger of man"s body, life, relations, and associations. See the rights of a man in the house he builds, the garden he lays out, the machine he makes, the child he rears. Of everything that a man does he expects some appropriate form of return.
2. His revelational claims. Israel was under special obligation because it had received special revelation.
3. His experimental claims. He had gained rights, and reasonably formed expectations, out of his pitiful and gracious dealings through long years.
II ON WHAT BASIS DO GOD"S CLAIMS REST. Not merely the supreme rights of Deity; but here especially man"s own acceptance of his claims. Claims are sterner things when they are both made and accepted.
III HOW GOD"S CLAIMS MAY BE NEGLECTED OR REFUSED.
1. By the delusion that those claims have been relaxed.
2. By the hope that something can be put in place of obedience to them.
3. By sheer listlessness.
4. By persistent wilfulness.
5. But it is more subtle and searching to say God"s claims are now chiefly missed through man"s over occupation.
The world and self fill men up.
IV HOW IS SUCH NEGLECT OF GOD"S CLAIMS TO BE DEALT WITH?
1. Call it by its right name robbing God.
2. Bring discipline to bear upon the neglecters, etc. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse.
Mal_3:10
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse.
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Gods storehouse
The contents of this book show that, in the time of Malachi, religion was in a very low condition. The people robbed God by keeping back the tithes and offerings, and the priests polluted Gods altar. They offered to God what they dared not to have offered to a human governor, and what a human governor would not have accepted at their hands. And yet they seemed unconscious of the evil of their conduct. Sin so blinds the eyes and blunts the conscience that men often do wrong, and scarcely know that they are doing it. But sin brings its own punishment. God blighted their fields and blemished their flocks, so that the land groaned beneath the curse. And the only way to remove the evil was to turn from the evil of their ways.
I. The origin and meaning of tithes. It was the tenth part of the produce of the soft, and the increase of the flock, or the income of the individual. It was not simply a Mosaic institution. See Jacobs vow at Bethel. Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek. God seems to have instituted this claim, to be a constant acknowledgment on our part of our dependence upon Him for all that we possess. God claims an absolute ownership of the soil and all its produce, and He claimed this constant acknowledgment of His ownership at the hands of men. Tithes were used at first to maintain the ordinances of religion, and to supply the wants of the poor, the fatherless, and the widow, who have ever been the objects of Gods care. In addition to these tithes, there were also freewill offerings. Many of their own free will, gave far beyond the minimum stipulated. Perhaps it was never intended, even under the Jewish economy, that the tithe should be exacted by force. It is evident that it was often withholden. The tithe is certainly not to be exacted by law under the present economy. Yet surely less cannot be expected of us than of the Jews. The earth is still the Lords, and He demands the same acknowledgment from us that He did from them. It is God that sends sunshine and shower, and causes the seed to germinate and spring up. Is God amply repaid, as the owner of the land, and for His toil, when you give Him the tenth, and that, perhaps, grudgingly? But it is not simply your substance, but yourself, also, that belongs to God. You are not your own. Then surely there ought to be an acknowledgment of His ownership. Have you even tithed yourself for God? Where is the storehouse into which these tithes are to be brought? Where is Gods storehouse? The storehouse is just where the tithes are needed. You need to tithe your time and thought for the culture of your own heart and life, if they are to be as a well-kept garden, beautiful unto God. You need to tithe your time for the good of your family, if your house is to be well ordered, and your children trained up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. You need to tithe your time, and thought, and affection, to meet the claims of society--the ignorant and degraded around you loudly call for help. The storehouse for your substance may be found in the homes of the widow, and the orphan, and the poor, and the destitute.
II. THE BLESSING HERE PROMISED. Opening the windows has, no doubt, reference to sunshine and showers, which produce the harvest. But every good gift is from above, and, therefore, this expression may symbolise the way in which every blessing is bestowed upon us. How easy it would be for God thus to pour down His blessing upon us till there be not room enough to receive it. This is true of temporal blessing. It is equally true in relation to the spiritual blessing. If we were to comply with the conditions God has here named, how easy it would be for Him to fill this house. This is especially true in relation to personal blessing. In Him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. You see then the way in which Gods blessing can be obtained. You shut heaven or you open it, by the attitude you assume in relation to God. He will ultimately be to you what you persist in being to Him. You may, too, in many ways, prevent or procure blessings for others. (A. Clark.)
Bringing in the tithes
1. It is objected, that we are not Jews, and that the command is, therefore, obsolete. But the occasion of tithing, like that of the Lords day, is found in permanent, unchanging facts, the glory of God and the needs of man. The occasion for tithing is even more urgent to-day than of old, as the work of religion is to be extended throughout the globe.
2. It is objected, that this law of tithing, like the laws concerning sacrifice and circumcision, has been repealed. But this is not true. There is not a syllable in the New Testament which, either directly or indirectly, repeals the law of the tithe.
3. It is objected, that every man is to give as he purposeth in his heart, and as the Lord hath prospered him, and this is a virtual repeal of the tithe. On the contrary, it really confirms the principle of tithing. We are to give by purpose; that is, deliberately, systematically--not according to whim or accident.
4. It may be said, I am not limited to a tenth, but, like Zaccheus, I may give half, or, like the apostles, all. So much the better. There is no objection to the rule. Thank-offerings were always commended.
5. The worst objection is, I cannot afford it. There is the real obstacle--selfishness. But I want to save for old age. Yes, and for eternity, too. Do not save for your children by robbing God. What shall it profit a man if he gain the tithes, and lose his soul? (M.V. Crouse.)
Prove Me now herewith.
God put to the proof
Far higher than the heavens are above the earth is our God above men; and yet He speaks to men, not merely after the manner of men, so far as that manner is good, but often with a tenderness, a gentleness, and a freedom of which many men are utterly incapable. Here, to assist Nehemiah in the restoration of the worship of God, Malachi is directed to say to the people, Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse . . . and prove Me now herewith, etc. The consecration of a tenth of the produce of property and of toil is of earlier date than the establishment of the Mosaic economy. The custom was adopted by Divine direction in the Levitical dispensation, and was enforced by Divine commandments. God here complains of neglect with respect to this said ordinance, which indicated a careless, undevout, and irreligious spirit among the people; and on account of this, God had withheld His blessing and smitten Israel with a curse. Gods requirements are, in principle and spirit, very similar in all ages, and the omissions, and defects, and faults of the people of God are, in times even far distant from each other, not unlike.
1. God has ever connected the enjoyment and use of certain blessings with the observance of His ordinances, and with obedience to His requirements. We may trace the connection of obedience with our salvation. The obedience of the children of Israel had nothing whatever to do with their election. In like manner our obedience has nothing whatever to do with the provision made for our redemption. I am born again, not because I have obeyed, but that I may obey. I am pardoned and justified, not because I have obeyed, but that I may be in a position to be trained for obedience. What has the obedience of a child to do with his relation to his father? This obedience does not earn or procure, or in any sense purchase and obtain our salvation, but it is the working out of that salvation, so far as our experience and our inward consciousness and enjoyment of that salvation are concerned. Let us therefore distinctly understand this at starting. But look further, and look at certain institutions and ordinances. Just as there is a close connection between the enjoyment of pardon,--the deliverance of our souls from the dominion of sin, and the confession of our sins to God, so there is a close connection between peace of mind, freedom from care, and obedience evidenced in earnest, importunate, and continued supplication.
2. Although God has thus connected blessedness with obedience, and with the observance of His ordinances, the people of God have often neglected them--neglected institutions founded for their benefit, and neglected Divine precepts and prohibitions: and this neglect is traceable to various sources. Sometimes neglect arises from ignorance. How can a man know the mind of God concerning him, who does not search his Bible? But a man may read the Bible, and still be ignorant. Hearing you may not understand, and seeking you may not find. Neglect arises from thoughtlessness and carelessness, and from indolence.
3. Such neglect often brings spiritual adversity, and sometimes exposes to sore affliction. If we have not all the spiritual blessings which God has promised, why are they not in our possession? The connection which God has ordained between obedience and blessedness cannot be severed. Our spiritual adversity, therefore, cannot be traceable to God. The cause can only be in ourselves; and it will be often found in some neglect,--not in the commission of something wrong, but in the omission of duties that we Christians think lightly of. We have restrained prayer, therefore our anxiety and our unrest. We have not acknowledged our sins, therefore our sense of guilt and our fear. We have neglected the Scriptures, or forsaken the assembling of ourselves together.
4. Our awaking to the knowledge that we have not all that God has promised, should be immediately followed by searchings of heart. Here again the cause must be in ourselves.
5. Now say that neglect is discovered, it should be instantly followed by supplying the omission. Prove me--my love, my hand, my faithfulness. All these omissions, by Gods grace, and the grace of the Spirit, may be supplied. (Samuel Martin.)
Heavens windows
Belief in a heaven has been universal Material good descends from the material heaven. The visible heavens are the type of the spiritual.
I. Windows are for light. Heaven is filled with unsullied light. Its light falls upon the earth. It ever gleams upon men in their benighted wanderings.
II. Windows are for health. The atmosphere of heaven is pure. The inhabitants never say, I am sick. Mans moral health on earth is from the heavenly influences that descend upon him.
III. Windows are for the interchange of sentiment, observation, and the glances of affection. The inhabitants of heaven are interested in men. Men are penitent, angels rejoice. Men look up to God, and He regards them from His lofty dwelling-place. He manifests His love to their hearts.
IV. Windows are for the exclusion of noxious vapours and reptiles. Earths evils cannot enter heaven. Men may enter, but not their sins. Whatever may defile other worlds in Gods universe, nothing can defile this one.
V. Windows are for beauty. Whether of glass or of lattice work, they ornament earths palaces and temples. Heaven is full of beauty. The incomplete descriptions that are given sometimes ravish us. (W. Osborne Lilley.)
An overflowing blessing
Not room enough in our hearts! They are limitless in their sense of need.
1. Sense of poverty. Gods title-deed expresses limitless ownership.
2. Sense of bereavement. God fills this with assurance of immortal reunions.
3. Sense of ignorance. God promises the Spirit to lead you into all truth.
4. Sense of sin. If sin abound, grace doth much more abound.
5. Sense of uselessness in purpose. Lifes energies drained into self, as the Jordan into the Dead Sea, instead of the desires flowing out to bless man kind.
6. Sense of little service with the best intentions. God makes a Christian useful beyond his ability, his planning, and his knowledge. (Homiletic Monthly.)
Giving as an expression el gratitude
I was once staying with a woman whose husband was sick and out of employment when she received a letter from C. H. Spurgeon containing a five-pound note and these few cheery words, A little something just to keep the pot boiling. I changed the note for her into gold, and taking one half-sovereign up, she said, This must go into the green purse, and straightway produced from an underneath pocket, a faded green purse into which the small yellow coin was dropped. I asked her why she separated her money in that way, and she answered, This is Gods purse, we always put aside a tenth. But, said I, God does not require this from you in your present circumstances. No, was her answer, and a beautiful light came upon her face, He may not, but it is our joy to do it. See how good He has been! I never asked Mr. Spurgeon to help us, nor did I even tell him that we were in a corner. It would be selfish to spend all this on ourselves; where would be our gratitude if we did? (Charlotte Skinner.)
Blessing comes by giving
In the olden days, when spring-time came, the Grand Duke of Venice, with attendant nobles and innumerable priests, used to go to the last point of land, and there, standing on the shores of the Adriatic, throw a gold jewelled ring into the ocean. It was called Marrying Venice to the Sea. In the same days when the Nile was at its height, the dam was broken connecting the river with the canals, and as the water rushed into its new channels, a living woman was thrown into the mad stream to become the bride of the Nile. In each ceremony there was the idea that blessing came by giving; the ring made Venice the queen of the seas--the woman brought fertility to a whole nation. (Charlotte Skinner.)
Proportionate giving
When Mr. Marshall the publisher was a young man of eighteen, he heard a sermon by the late Rev. Baldwin Brown, which dealt chiefly with the stewardship of wealth. He left the church determined that henceforth whatever money he had got, whether it was much or little, he would always put aside one-tenth for the Lord before he devoted any of it to his own use. This he continued to do for some years. After a time he found himself giving away more money than many of his friends who had much greater incomes. Some of them expostulated with him, and, as his wont was, he took the question to the Lord in prayer. Here, said he, I have given away, believing it to be my duty, for purposes which I regard as yours, one-tenth of my income. Am I doing what is right? Will you give me a sign? In the year 1852 he devised the first illustrated programme for a public funeral that had ever appeared in London--that of the Duke of Wellington. Now he prayed to God. I am publishing this programme; it may succeed, it may fail. May I ask that, in connection with the publication of this programme, you will give me a sign that will give me clearly to understand whether I am to go on giving, to curtail my subscriptions, or what I shall do? Well, it turned out that the programme was a great success. And then comes the most remarkable thing. When the balance-sheet came to be made up for that programme, Mr. Marshall found to his astonishment that the net profits that he had realised amounted, to the very penny, to the sum which he had given away since his eighteenth year! When he compared the figures, and found that they exactly corresponded, he felt that his prayer had been answered; and, as he put it in his own quaint way, I saw that the Lord was determined never to be in debt with me, so I went ahead. Afterwards, as his wealth multiplied, he increased the proportion.
Proportionate giving
1. That faithful and proportionate giving will be rewarded with superabundant spiritual blessing. The statement does not require proof, since experience has stamped it already as an axiom. Other things being equal, that Christian who opens the broadest outlet for charity will find the widest inlet for the Spirit. The health of a human body depends upon its exhalations as well as upon its inhalations. It is reported that a boy who was to personate a shining cherub in a play, on being covered over with a coating of gold-leaf, which entirely closed the pores of the skin, died in consequence, before relief could be afforded. Woe to the Christian who gets so gold-leafed over with his wealth, that the pores of his sympathy are shut, and the outgoings of his charity restrained! He is thenceforth dead spiritually, though he may have a name to live.
2. That faithful and proportionate giving will be rewarded with abundant temporal prosperity. Honour the Lord with thy substance and with the first-fruits of all thine increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine (Pro_3:9-10). This is but one specimen of many from the Old Testament. Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom (Luk_6:38). Let us now throw light upon this subject from a few inserted leaves from a pastors notebook. One says, I knew a widow of limited means who was remarkable for her liberality to benevolent objects. But a sad change came into her by an unexpected legacy which made her wealthy, and then her contributions began to fall below the amount of her straitened finances. Once she volunteered: now she only gives when importuned, and then it is as meagre as if the fountains of gratitude had dried up. Once when asked by her pastor to help a cause dear to her heart in her comparative poverty, and to which she gave five dollars then, now she proffers twenty-five cents. Her pastor called her attention to the surprising and ominous change. Ah, she said, when day by day I looked to God for my bread, I had enough to spare; now I have to look to my ample income, and I am all the time haunted with the fear of losing it, and coming to want. I had the guinea heart when I had the shilling means, now I have the guinea means and the shilling heart. It is a fearful risk to heart and soul to become suddenly rich. This is one of the reasons why God lets many of His best children acquire wealth so slowly, so that it may not be a snare to them, may not chill their benevolence; that when wealth comes, the fever of ambitious grasping may be cooled, and that benevolence may overtake avarice. Now the only way to avoid this peril is to cultivate two habits, and let them grow side by side,--the habit of economy and the habit of charity. If ones economy grows steadily and alone, it will tend to dry up his charity; if ones charity grows steadily, it will dry up his means, unless balanced by the other virtue of economy. Therefore, let both grow together, then our giving will increase just in proportion to our getting. (J. A. Gordon, D. D.)
Money and the blessing
We have brought the gifts into the storehouse; now look out for the opening of the heavens. The first blessing that will come will be one of prayer. The spirit of prayer poured out will be continuous. Prayer is the chalice in which we fetch the water from the rock. It is the ladder on which we climb up to pick the grapes hanging over the wall of heaven. It is the fire that warms the frigid soul. Prayer is the lever. The Divine promise is the fulcrum. Earnest prayer is always answered. Another blessing will be a spirit of work. Not a Christian here but will be anxious about somebody else. The Church was never in such a fair way for a blessing as now. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)
Prove Me now
1. With regard to the pardon of our sin for Christs sake.
2. With regard to the purifying influence of the Gospel.
3. With regard to our guidance in the investigation of religious truth.
4. With regard to the supply of our temporal wants.
5. With regard to the happiness of personal religion.
6. With regard to answers to prayer. (G. Brooks.)
Conditional blessing
The Hon. C. Rhodes, in a recent meeting, told his audience that the extension of British power in Africa had been the one object of his life for years. For this he had lived and laboured. To him would come the purpose of his life, if in South Africa he might see the British flag waving over a free and united empire. A noble ambition, truly, for a patriotic heart, and worthy of the great efforts made for its accomplishment. The prophet Malachi was engaged in a nobler mission still. Far more worthy, in conception and results, was the work of winning an apostate nation back to God. It was no easy task. The work of the reformer never is. Divine love and courage made Malachi a patriotic saint, and led him boldly to attack the evils of the sinful nation in which he lived. It is to one of his most courageous messages that we would direct attention.
I. The grave accusation made by God against this people--Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me. This accusation was a startling one. Whoever would have thought that men would rob God? They might rob their fellows, but surely they would never rob the Lord. As Malachi uttered these words they made a great sensation. I imagine all Jerusalem was in an uproar over his utterance. The merchants forgot their merchandise as they discussed it in the bazaars. Priests gathered with scribes in solemn council, and agreed that the man who had made such a statement was mad. Yet this message was absolutely true. They were committing the awful sin of robbing God: and when the excitement and anger had died down they were forced to admit its truth. Men are robbing God in like manner to-day. God says, Ye are not your own: ye are bought with a price, and yet they withhold themselves from Him. Is not that robbery? The Holy Ghost speaks, Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost? Yet instead of permitting Him to dwell there, its rooms are filled with sinful guests. Is not that robbery also? You say these are strong, stout words. True! but Gods messages are never vague or uncertain. Great evils demand powerful remedies. Hence God calls robbery, robbery, and sin, sin. He puts His finger upon the plague spot, and says, That is where you are wrong. The cupboard of your life may be shut to others, and looks like some fair adornment on the wall. He knows the secret spring, and reveals the skeleton of thy sin which lies hidden within. Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me.
II. The sad result of such a sinful course--Ye are cursed with a curse, etc. In the south of Scotland there stands the ruin of a famous abbey. Its broken columns and arched windows, its trellised doorways and roofless aisles, its damp chapels and deserted altar, all speak sadly of a former glory and a departed greatness. The curse of man has fallen upon it. Methinks, that as Malachi looked upon the life of his countrymen he saw only a ruin which shadowed forth its former beauty and greatness. Decay was stamped upon it. Its worship had become an abomination. Ye offer, said Jehovah, polluted bread upon Mine altar. The table of the Lord is contemptible (Mal_1:7). Gods covenant was despised (Mal_1:6). Justice and judgment were perverted. The sorcerer, the adulterer, the false-swearer, and the oppressor fattened upon the woes of others (Mal_3:5). Israel was a moral ruin and a spiritual desolation. She was despised by men and cursed by God. It is an awful thing to fall beneath Gods curse; and yet every soul which robs God has that curse upon him. History tells us that wherever the axe of Richard the Lion-hearted swung, the stoutest mail was splintered like matchwood, and the bravest men went down. God is a man of war: the Lord of Hosts is His name. He taketh up the isles as a very little thing. His strong arm can make the choicest defences a ruined heap. He shall utterly destroy His foes. Men shall look for them, and they shall not be found. Hast thou wondered why thy soul hath not prospered? Is Gods curse resting upon thee? How can it prosper when it is robbing God?
III. The just demand which God makes--Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house. In the preceding verse you will notice that God complains of robbery from two sources, i.e., tithes and offerings. The tithing God requires: the offerings were freewill gifts over and above the tithes. Hence in this demand God speaks of tithes only. Under the Jewish economy everything connected with life and worship was built up upon one great principle, i.e., ownership by God. Whilst they remained true it never failed. The land was His, and so its first-fruits, whether of corn, fruit, or cattle, had to be redeemed by an offering to Him. The firstborn of children were His, and they, too, had to be redeemed. The same principle ran through their worship. Whenever they appeared before Him they brought an offering. If they were too poor to give a bullock, they gave a lamb; if too poor for this, they brought pigeons or turtle doves. If to the tithes there are added these offerings, then a very modest calculation shows that every pious Jew must have given about one-seventh of his entire income to the Lord. It was only when their spiritual life grew dim that these offerings and tithings ceased. But, says some one, God does not demand such things to-day; we are not under law, but under grace. True; but as Christ is better than Moses, and grace is laden with richer blessings than the law, our generosity ought to flow out in yet larger abundance; for the greater the blessing the greater the gratitude, and the greater the gratitude the greater the gifts. However much conditions change, principles remain. Tithes meant at least three things.
1. They meant money. The produce of the field was the Jews money. It might be corn, fruit, oxen, sheep, or asses; but it was in these that his wealth consisted, and of these he gave his tenth to the Lord. To-day the coin of the realm is the medium of circulating wealth, but the principle of devoting some portion of it to the Lord is the same.
2. Tithes meant time. If the produce represented money, the cultivation of it represented time. The ploughing, harrowing, sowing, etc., which the successful farmer had to do, made great demands upon his time. If you would bring all the tithes, your time will not be exempted. Let me put this truth in another form. Suppose it took five minutes to pay a visit to a home. Then if fifty Christians gave this one-tenth of time per day to visitation, they could pay no less than 900 visits daily.
3. Tithes meant talent. The man who would succeed in cultivation must use his talents in mastering and applying the principles of agriculture. God asks the produce and the time, but He demands the talents also. Have you the talent of speech? God wants it. Of song? He requires it. Of organisation? He asks it. Of literary ability? He will use it. Of humbler working power? He seeks it, and if you withhold it you are robbing God. Bring ye all the tithes--not one, but all.
IV. The abundant blessing which god promises to those who obey him--A blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it. The figure is that of a great flood. Just as the banks of a river are unable to hold the waters in flood-time, so will God bless the person who obeys Him. He will fill to overflowing such an one with Divine gifts. The seraphic Fletcher had to cry out, Lord, stay Thy hand. This blessing means--
1. Prosperity. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts (Mal_3:11).
2. Honour. And all nations shall call you blessed (Mal_3:12).
3. Happiness. And ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts (Mal_3:12). How attractive would such a people be. To such would men cry, We will go with you, for God is with you. Too long has Gods Israel been satisfied with leanness, barrenness, dearth, and death. Worldliness, rationalism, and formalism are eating out her life. As it is with the Church, so it is with every individual. The Churchs life is the exact counterpart of the individuals who compose it. Recently I heard it stated that means were being invented to stop the rain from falling in certain districts. Whether such a thing is possible I cannot say. But this I know, that unless you bring all the tithes into the storehouse you will shut up Gods heaven of blessing, and there will be famine in your soul. God wants to bless. (F. Inwood.)
Tithes brought into the storehouse
In this part of the Divine Word we have first a duty prescribed, and secondly a promise containing high encouragement to its performance. The prescription of duty is expressed in these words, Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, and the promise follows, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and, pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. Gods ancient people had, in the days of Malachi, greatly failed in doing this duty, and here God charges them with robbery of no ordinary kind. Tithes were only a part of the contributions of their worldly substance which the Israelites were required to devote to the service of God; and as a leading part, they seem to be employed in the text as a part for the whole. There was very much required of them besides the tithes. They were to bring the first fruits, the male firstlings of all clean beasts, and the redemption price of such as were unclean. It does not appear, however, that coercive measures were employed to enforce the furnishing of the various kinds of offerings, except by exclusion from participating in spiritual privileges, which in many cases followed as a necessary consequence of failure in this duty. The kings and rulers in Israel are not reproved for not employing power and authority to enforce the payment of tithes or other offerings. This seems to have been left between God and the consciences of individuals.
I. Let us advert to the law of proportion in this matter. Here it may be remarked--
1. That our offerings should bear a proportion to our resources. This was the law under the Old Testament, and it is so under the New. Hence the apostolic injunction, Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him (1Co_16:2). This truth is also taught in these words--If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not (2Co_8:12).
2. Remark that our offerings are to bear a proportion to the exigencies of the public cause of God. These axe different at different times. When the tabernacle was constructed in the wilderness, which by Gods special appointment was to be formed in many of its parts of costly materials, a very large demand was made on the resources of the Israelites, which was met by an unwonted measure of liberality, even till there was more than sufficient for the work.
3. There is also to be a proportion between what is contributed to the treasury of the Lord and expended on other objects. It is in this respect that there is a very general failure in this duty. God had to complain of His ancient people, by the prophet Haggai, that they dwelt in their ceiled houses while His house lay waste. And perhaps there is nothing in which true Christians fail more than in the disproportion between what they give freely for other objects--not always necessary objects--and what they devote to God as His portion, and for the promotion of His cause.
4. There is to be a proportion of its kind between the offering and the glory and claims of that God to whom it is presented.
II. Of the spirit in which offerings should be presented to the Lord.
1. This will manifest itself in giving God the first share of our worldly increase. This is no doubt one thing taught in the prescription of the first fruits. This is expressly taught in these words, Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase (Pro_3:9).
2. It is to be rendered willingly (2Co_9:7).
3. We are to esteem it an honour and a privilege to be called and enabled to make offerings of our temporal substance to the Lord, David felt deeply how great an honour and privilege it was to have the heart and the ability to perform this duty, when he and his people contributed liberally to the building of the Temple (1Ch_29:13-14).
4. This should be rendered as an expression, though small, very small, of our gratitude to God (2Co_8:9). What blessedness would they have in the performance of this duty; first, in the purposes of their heart regarding it, and then in fulfilling them, having fellowship with God in all. Though the immediate and special subject of the text plainly is literal tithes and other external offerings, these offerings, however costly, behoved to be accompanied with such offerings are are spiritual, in order to acceptance with God. With out the spiritual the literal could not be offered in a right spirit. This kind of tithes must also be brought into the storehouse. Here there are the offerings of prayer and of praise, of Bible reading and spiritual meditation; the offerings of worship to God in the closet, in the family, and in the public assembly, as well as those of Sabbath sanctification, self-examination, and fasting; the observance of the Lords Supper, and personal and social vowing. From this subject learn--
1. One thing which has a special influence in drawing down an abundant temporal blessing on individuals and a people is a due rendering of literal offerings to the promotion of the cause of God.
2. One thing which has special influence in drawing down the curse of God on the worldly interests of individuals or a people is the withholding of a due measure of literal offerings from God. (Original Secession Magazine.)
Systematic giving
I. The first proposition that lies at the basis of this challenge is: there is a close connection between religion and prosperity. I do not mean spiritual prosperity, but prosperity in the material things of life. There is a close and intimate relationship between the righteousness which is enjoined upon us of the Lord and the prosperity which is promised to follow. The Old Testament makes no secret about it; it does not mince matters. Irrespective of all appeals to motives of selfishness, and the fact that it lays itself open to reproach from critical and cynical people, it boldly and plainly declares that if the children of Israel will be obedient to the covenant and keep the commands God has enjoined upon them, they shall he rewarded in return with plenty, with prosperity, with an abundance of happiness and peace. All the history of all the nations of the earth confirms that declaration, at any rate from national standpoints. The nations that rise to pre-eminence rise in virtue of their righteousness. No nation has ever fallen through external forces. It has fist of all been honeycombed and undermined with inward deterioration, and then when the first breath came from without, it was sufficient to bring about its overthrow and ruin. And England will never fall if England is true to the tradition of godliness and of honour. When it comes to personal matters, the same principle must apply. But immediately difficulties appear. We recall at once the Book of Job. We remember the 37th Psalm. These have their explanation in the Providence of God. But notwithstanding these, the general rule holds good that religion tends to prosperity. I remember when the only son of a distinguished mayor of one of the largest cities in the North of England got converted. His father was not troubled with too much seriousness in matters of religion. He was one of the keenest of business men, and one of the most level-headed fellows in the country. He shook hands with me as I sat in the private room, and said: Mr. Chadwick, what has happened to my lad to-night is worth more than you think. I would have given £100,000 for it. I thought he was not serious until I looked up and saw the tears in his eyes. He repeated it. The commercial value to the lad is worth more than £100,000, he said. I found out he was not far wrong. I have met with more than one father who would have given more than £100,000 if he could have guaranteed his sons conversion, and it would have been cheap at the price. Godliness is profitable to the life that now is, as well as to that which is to come. I am not going to contend that every man who becomes a Christian will become a millionaire; I am not convinced that being a millionaire is a sure indication of prosperity. Barney Barnato was a millionaire, and at last he jumped into the sea to cool his brain! If a man to make millions sacrifices his soul his millions are bought at too big a price. Neither am I going to contend that all Christian men will be equally prosperous. If a man is born with only ninepence to the smiling, that is threepence short. Christ can never make up the threepence short, and he will always be short, converted or not converted. My contention is that God can do more with ninepence than the devil can do with half a crown; and that there is nothing in this world so calculated to make the best of a man as the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ, intelligently grasped and enthusiastically lived. Of course, you will ask me, what about the good men who do not get on? Well, there are lots of them, and they are problems. But I have never known a good man fail to get on because of his religion. A great many people go on the assumption that religion can enable them to dispense with the common principles of success. That can never be. If a man brings cattle to the market when the fair is over he will not succeed, and he must blame himself that he did not get up sooner in the morning. His religion should be manifested by promptitude, and not, by pious expressions. Religion never makes up for laziness. Religion never makes up for bad workmanship and lack of punctuality I would not give much for the religion which does not make a man a better worker and a more punctual workman. It is not brain that is wanted, but things coupled with character. That which commands the highest price in the market to-day is efficiency and trustworthiness. It is the greatest insult to this generation to say it is impossible for a man to maintain his integrity and get on. He may not get on very fast, but he will have a peaceful life and be prosperous if there is a God in heaven and truth in the Book.
II. There is a close conection between what a man gives and what he gets. Some men will never lose less until they give more. God calls for the whole tithe, not for a tithe. I believe people who give much lose much of the blessing of it, because they give contrary to the principles laid down in the Bible. They often give as the result of impulse or rivalry and competition. God has never let go His right to the things material. Everything a man gets God snips a bit out of it, to remind the man that he did not get it by his own skill and wit. God gave it to him, and man is not the proprietor but the steward. And the principle laid down is this--that a man has got to settle between himself and his God what the proportion ought to be which he should give to God. I think a tithe is a generous maximum for the poor and a mean minimum for the rich. Unless a man cultivates a habit of systematic giving when he has not much to give, he will give little when he is rich. (S. Chadwick.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v8 Mal 3:1 - Mal 3:12.
Malachi
THE LAST WORD OF PROPHECY
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Mal 3:1 - Mal 3:12.
Deep obscurity surrounds the person of this last of the prophets. It is questioned whether Malachi is a proper name at all. It is the Hebrew word rendered in Mal 3:1 of our passage ‘My messenger,’ and this has led many authorities to contend that the prophecy is in fact anonymous, the name being only a designation of office. Whether this is so or not, the name, if it is a name, is all that we know about him. The tenor of his prophecy shows that he lived after the restoration of the Temple and its worship, and the sins which he castigates are substantially those with which Ezra and Nehemiah had to fight. One ancient Jewish authority asserts that he was Ezra; but the statement has no confirmation, and if it had been correct, we should not have expected that such an author would have been anonymous. This dim figure, then, is the last of the mighty line of prophets, and gives strong utterance to the ‘hope of Israel’! One clear voice, coming from we scarcely know whose lips, proclaims for the last time, ‘He comes! He comes!’ and then all is silence for four hundred years. Modern critics, indeed, hold that the bulk of the Psalter is of later date; but that contention has much to do before it can be regarded as established.
The first point worthy of notice in this passage, then, is the concentration, in this last prophetic utterance, of that element of forward-looking expectancy which marked all the earlier revelation. From the beginning, the selectest spirits in Israel had set their faces and pointed their fingers to a great future, which gathered distinctness as the ages rolled, and culminated in the King from David’s line, of whom many psalms sung, and in the suffering Servant of the Lord, who shines out from the pages of the second part of Isaiah’s prophecy. This Messianic hope runs through all the Old Testament, like a broadening river. ‘They that went before cried, Hosanna! Blessed is He that cometh.’
That hope gives unity to the Old Testament, whatever criticism may have to teach about the process of its production. The most important thing about the book is that one purpose informs it all; and the student who misses the truth that ‘the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy’ has a less accurate conception of the meaning and inter-relations of the Old Testament than the unlearned who has accepted that great truth. We should be willing to learn all that modern scholarship has to teach about the course of revelation. But we should take care that the new knowledge does not darken the old certainty that the prophets ‘testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and of the glory that should follow,’ Here, at the very end, stands Malachi, reiterating the assurance which had come down through the centuries. The prophets, as it were, had lit a beacon which flamed through the darkness. Hand after hand had flung new fuel on it when it burned low. It had lighted up many a stormy night of exile and distress. Now we can dimly see one more, the last of his order, casting his brand on the fire, which leaps up again; and then he too passes into the darkness, but the beacon burns on.
The next point to note is the clear prophecy of a forerunner. ‘My messenger’ is to come, and to ‘prepare the way before Me.’ Isaiah had heard a voice calling, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord,’ and Malachi quotes his words, and ascribes the same office to the ‘messenger.’ In the last verses of his prophecy he calls this messenger ‘Elijah the prophet.’ Here, then, we have a remarkable instance of a historical detail set forth in prophecy. The coming of the Lord is to be immediately preceded by the appearance of a prophet, whose function is to effect a moral and religious reformation, which shall prepare a path for Him. This is no vague ideal, but definite announcement of a definite fact, to be realised in a historical personality. How came this half-anonymous Jew, four hundred years beforehand, to hit upon the fact that the next prophet in Israel would herald the immediate coming of the Lord? There ought to be but one answer possible.
Another point to note is the peculiar relation between Jehovah and Him who comes. Emphatically and broadly it is declared that Jehovah Himself ‘shall suddenly come to His temple’; and then the prophecy immediately passes on to speak of the coming of ‘the Messenger of the covenant,’ and dwells for a time exclusively on his work of purifying; and then again it glides, without conscious breach of continuity or mark of transition, into, ‘And I will come near to you in judgment.’ A mysterious relationship of oneness and yet distinctness is here shadowed, of which the solution is only found in the Christian truth that the Word, which was Grod, and was in the beginning with God, became flesh, and that in Him Jehovah in very deed tabernacled among men. The expression ‘the Messenger {or Angel} of the covenant’ is connected with the remarkable representations in other parts of the Old Testament, of ‘the Angel of Jehovah,’ in whom many commentators recognise a pre-incarnate manifestation of the eternal Word. That ‘Angel’ had redeemed Israel from Egypt, had led them through the desert, had been the ‘Captain of the Lord’s host.’ The name of Jehovah was ‘in Him.’ He it is whose coming is here prophesied, and in His coming Jehovah comes to His temple.
We next note the aspect of the coming which is prominent here. Not the kingly, nor the redemptive, but the judicial, is uppermost. With keen irony the Prophet contrasts the professed eagerness of the people for the appearance of Jehovah and their shrinking terror when He does come. He is ‘the Lord whom ye seek’; the Messenger of the covenant is He ‘whom ye delight in.’ But all that superficial and partially insincere longing will turn into dread and unwillingness to abide His scrutiny. The images of the refiner’s fire and the fullers’ soap imply painful processes, of which the intention is to burn out the dross and beat out the filth. It sounds like a prolongation of Malachi’s voice when John the Baptist peals out his herald cry of one whose ‘fan was in His hand,’ and who should plunge men into a fiery baptism, and consume with fire that destroyed what would not submit to be cast into the fire that cleansed. Nor should we forget that our Lord has said, ‘For judgment am I come into the world.’ He came to ‘purify’; but if men would not let Him do what He came for, He could not but be their bane instead of their blessing.
The stone is laid. If we build on it, it is a sure foundation; if we stumble over it, we are broken. The double aspect and effect of the gospel, which was meant only to have the single operation of blessing, are clearly set forth in this prophecy, which first promises purging from sin, so that not only the ‘sons of Levi’ shall offer in righteousness, but that the ‘offerings of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleasant,’ and then passes immediately to foretell that God will come in judgment and witness against evil-doers. Judgment is the shadow of salvation, and constantly attends on it. Neither Malachi nor the Baptist gives a complete view of Messiah’s work, but still less do they give an erroneous one; for the central portion of both prophecies is His purifying energy which both liken to cleansing fire.
That real and inward cleansing is the great work of Christ. It was wrought on as many of His contemporaries as believed on Him, and for such as did not He was a swift Witness against them. Nor are we to forget that the prophecy is not exhausted yet; for there remains another ‘day of His coming’ for judgment. The prophets did not see the perspective of the future, and often bring together events widely separated in time, just as, to a spectator on a mountain, distances between points far away towards the horizon are not measurable. We have to allow for foreshortening.
This blending of events historically widely apart is to be kept in view in interpreting Malachi’s prediction that the coming would result in Judah’s and Israel’s offerings being ‘pleasant unto the Lord as in former years.’ That prediction is not yet fulfilled, whether we regard the name of Israel and the relation expressed in it as having passed over to the Christian Church, or whether we look forward to that bringing in of all Israel which Paul says will be as ‘life from the dead.’ But by slow degrees it is being fulfilled, and by Christ men are being led to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God.
The more directly Messianic part of this prophecy is closed in Mal 3:6 by a great saying, which at once gives the reason for the coming and for its severe aspect of witness against sin. The unchangeableness of God, which is declared in His very name, guarantees the continued existence of Israel. As Paul says in regard to the same subject, ‘The calling of God is without change of purpose’ {on His part}. But it is as impossible that God should leave them to their sins, which would destroy them, as that He should Himself consume them. Therefore He will surely come; and coming, will deliver from evil. But they who refuse to be so delivered will forfeit that title and the pledge of preservation which it implies.
A new paragraph begins with Mal 3:7, which is not closely connected with the promises preceding. It recurs to the prevailing tone of Malachi, the rebuke of negligence in attending to the legal obligations of worship. That negligence is declared to be a reason for God’s withdrawal from them. But the ‘return,’ which is promised on condition of their renewed obedience, can scarcely be identified with the coming just foretold. That coming was to bring about offerings of righteousness which should be pleasant to the Lord. This section {Mal 3:7 - Mal 3:12} promises blessings as results of such offerings, and a ‘return’ of Jehovah to His people contingent upon their return to Him. If the two sections of this passage are taken as closely connected, this one must describe the consequences of the coming. But, more probably, this accusation of negligence and promise of blessing on a change of conduct are independent of the previous verses. We, however, may fairly take them as exhibiting the obligations of those who have received that great gift of purifying from Jesus Christ, and are thereby consecrated as His priests.
The key-word of the Christian life is ‘sacrifice’-surrender, and that to God. That is to be stamped on the inmost selves, and by the act of the will, on the body as well. ‘Yield yourselves to God, and your members as instruments of righteousness to Him.’ It is to be written on possessions. Malachi necessarily keeps within the limits of the sacrificial system, but his impetuous eloquence hits us no less. It is still possible to ‘rob God.’ We do so when we keep anything as our own, and use it at our own will, for our own purposes. Only when we recognise His ownership of ourselves, and consequently of all that we call ‘ours,’ do we give Him His due. All the slave’s chattels belong to the owner to whom he belongs. Such thorough-going surrender is the secret of thorough possession. The true way to enjoy worldly goods is to give them to God.
The lattices of heaven are opened, not to pour down, as of old, fiery destruction, but to make way for the gentle descent of God’s blessing, which will more than fill every vessel set to receive it. This is the universal law, not always fulfilled in increase of outward goods, but in the better riches of communion and of larger possession in God Himself. He suffers no man to be His creditor, but more than returns our gifts, as legends tell of some peasant who brought his king a poor tribute of fruits of his fields, and went away from the presence-chamber with a jewel in his hand.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv8, 10 General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh continues to speak to the people of Israel.
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Would a person rob God?
This question implies that the idea of robbing God is very wicked. This can be expressed as a statement. God speaks of himself in the third person AT: "A man should certainly not rob God." or "No one should ever rob me." (See: Rhetorical Question and First, Second, or Third Person)
How have we robbed you?
This question implies that the people do not think they have robbed God. AT: "We have certainly not robbed you." (See: Rhetorical Question)
In tithes and offerings
This reply from Yahweh implies a fuller answer. AT: "You have robbed me by withholding from me your tithes and offerings" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
You are cursed with a curse
This can be stated in active form. AT: "I have certainly cursed you" (See: Active or Passive)
you are robbing me, the whole nation
Here "nation" stands for the people to whom Yahweh is speaking. AT: "all of you in the whole nation are robbing me"
translationWords
God
tenth
curse
nation
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv8, 10 3:8-9 Malachi appeals to Judah for a comprehensive renewal…
3:8-9 Malachi appeals to Judah for a comprehensive renewal of their practice of giving to the Lord. • Tithes, a tenth of the produce of the land, were required offerings (see Deut 12:6, 11, 17). Offerings were additional gifts or contributions made to the Lord or his sanctuary that included produce, material goods (such as construction materials or garments), or personal valuables (such as gold, silver, or precious stones). • Judah’s recent experience resulted from God’s curse (see Deut 28:20, 27). Malachi thus urgently called the community to repent, turn to the Lord, and do what the covenant required.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.